The Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County is a non-profit charitable organization based in Chester County, PA. Our mission is to ensure the perpetual preservation and stewardship of open space, natural resources, historic sites, and working agricultural lands throughout southern Chester County.

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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Great Backyard Bird Count

The 2014 Great Backyard Bird Count begins on Friday, and it is a wonderful example of citizen science at its best. The GBBC encourages individuals to tally the birds that are visiting their feeders/backyards throughout the four day weekend. The data is entered online, and helps to give a snapshot of patterns of migration throughout the United States.

Another popular tool used by scientists is the banding of birds. This enables bird watchers to report the name/tag on the bird to find out where it has been. One such bird, a Red Knot--popular along the Delaware Coast during spring migration recently made headlines. The bird was last spotted in Canada in August, and has been found in Argentina quite recently. While this is a normal migration pattern, the unusual part is that this bird was initially banded in 1995 and has an estimated age of 21 years old. Learn more about this red knot (B95) by reading the article: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/greenliving/B95-spotted-once-again-He-made-it-to-Argentina.html

So how do these bird surveys and counts translate to conservation and TLC? We know how well we are doing managing our properties by what birds we are attracting. Are we providing the correct habitat to attract birds that should live in southern Chester County? These are questions our management team asks during each and every restoration project. We always appreciate all sightings of birds and mammals on our properties. Be sure to visit one of TLC's Preserves, take along your binoculars, and tell us what you find! Email us with photos: landmanager@tlcforscc.org.